/root vs /root/

alaios · 05-08-2004, 01:01 PM

Hi i want to someone to inform about the difference of
/root and /root/
Some guy told that the first creates (theoritically) a file with name root in the /
and the /root/ refers to the directory....
Ihave noticed that both are accepted from the cp command and others...
So what is the difference?

-X- · 05-08-2004, 01:59 PM

As simple as I could find.
http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/linuxdir.html

Or, if you don't have anything to do for a while.
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesy...tml/index.html

alaios · 05-08-2004, 02:59 PM

xmmm.....thx ,,,Are u sure that u understand what i have asked?

trickykid · 05-08-2004, 03:52 PM

/ is the root directory of the whole file system.

/root is root users home directory.

Now if your referring to /root as / and /root/ to root's home directory, what I said above is correct. But technically speaking, /root and /root/ are the same thing the way you present it or asked.

Crito · 05-08-2004, 08:50 PM

The difference is using the trailing slash makes it explicitly a directory. If you made a mistake with, say, the mv command and typed /roott as a destination, it would create a file with that name. If you used the trailing slash, as in /roott/, the command would complain that the directory doesn't exist.